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The lack of LOS-blocoking area terrain has hurt them. Pick any small (<5" across) piece of terrain and the tau would jump out, shoot, jump back. All fething game.

Now they are seriously gimped. They CAN be competitive, and we havea couple of VERY good tau players in our club - but youre starting off waaaay back in the pack if you do run with them.

Like the flying clown list of Eldar 4th, its gone by the way side...

Having played Tau in 4th and 5th I have had to readjust the way i fight.
1. I use smaller but more numerous FW squads.-- I used to max 12 FWs and hope for gunline engagements.
2. I no longer use more than one Devilfish (for distant objectives only).-- At 80 pts without any upgrades they are overpriced and cannot project power. The one i bring is usually used as a Warfish and given SMS.
3. I max out MEQ killing firepower in my Crisis Suit squads and actively pursue 5 man Tac Squads into 12in engagements where i can work the low AP and the Crisis Suits mobility to avoid cover and maximize +2 wound insta death engagements (when fighting MEQ) and if you dont kill them all but have 1-2 left....either charg'em and roll the dice or JSJ back and play it safe.--I would have never done this in 4th ed. i always avoided combat whenever but now i have more faith/recklessness with my suits to see them through (now this changes when powerswords and Fists are on the squads....i am not suicidal)
4. Shield Drones are your friends.--used to think they were too expensive....but they constantly get their points back for me.
5. When there are Orks around Run like hell.--this is a new thing to me....those GreenSkinned Bastiches have my number and i need to totally re-evaluate my tactics...0-3 against them.
6. Markerlights are hit or miss for me....i do not use Pathfinders.....believe them to be too fragile and exposed and drones are expensive. I have had limited sucess with attaching drones to cheap Crisis squads but they become quite expensive after attaching them.
7. Always pay for the Bonding Knife!

Kirby's blog actually showcases a great way to play Tau in 5th.

They can hang with the big boys, there only problem is that they are a VERY monobuild list- The only variation you can have is more kroot vs. 6 man devilfish squads, pirahhnas vs. pathfinders, and broadsides vs. hammerheads.

Missile/Plas crisis suits are a must, and are the some of the most versatile models in the game. You can also give them a few team leaders to give each unit a flamer.

Kroot squads are a must- they are your deep strike protection, and give you a bit of ranged anti-infantry support. Firewarriors are crap for their price- their weapons hit statistically as hard as bolters (statistically speaking) with the ability to glance light armor rarely, coupled on a ridiculously overpriced model.

Played right, your enemies will never hit your lines untill turn 3/4. They are a true finesse army though- you need to be really intimate with the movement phase or you'll lose straight up.

And lo', did Zonino utter the immortal phrase: "I do not play Tau but..."

There's a guy at the club that I go to who does and he is very good with them. Pathfinders are a pain if you do not take them out quickly. Fire Warriors don't seem that useless when they are shooting with BS4 or 5 at a unit with no or little cover. Or maybe it's just because I play Eldar, and crave the cover like my life depended on it, because it does!

Bent



OVER.

That's what happened to them.

The problem doesnt lie with the tau codex, but rather with 99% of people who play on tables without proper terrain.

Back before TLOS they (crisis suits) could hop behind a small forest and not be able to be shot at, now if you can see it you can shoot it.

Note: you can have the boards area covered 50% by terrain, and have it still be garbage to play on.

If its all forests and rocky outcrops etc then your table is bad.
There should be about half of the terrain mabye a bit less that can block los completely to semi large ish units. Yet you rarely see anything capable of even obscuring a 2nd ed ork trukk (and damn those things are only like 1" tall ....)

But every table you see is like 6 forests with 1 gw bastion and an aegis defense line .... meh nothing to do but build your own collection of worthwhile terrain.

Ok ive played tau since they were first released and honestly the new changes havent affected my record or strategies much...i run 0 kroot and vespid or pathfinders just fire warriors suits 2 broadsides a pirhana and a HH yes im royally screwed when someone gets close but most armies dont get that close and anything that deepstrikes in is usually blasted on the spot

half of what my firewarriors shoot at dies even without markerlights (all the shas'ui) have 1 anyways but the sheer volume of fire is usually enough

Just noticed something on the first page, you only need two 'weapon destroyed's to wreck a rhino. A vehicle that has no weapons and is immobilised counts as wrecked, the second you score that second weapon destroyed after the storm bolter the rhino is kaput... Fire warriors don't need BS 4, that would be silly, but give 'em rail rifles and melta (i cant recall the tau Equiv) as options for sure. Maybe they could have some form of retreat move as well as 'go to ground' in the enemy shoot phase.

Perkustin wrote:Just noticed something on the first page, you only need two 'weapon destroyed's to wreck a rhino. A vehicle that has no weapons and is immobilised counts as wrecked, the second you score that second weapon destroyed after the storm bolter the rhino is kaput... Fire warriors don't need BS 4, that would be silly, but give 'em rail rifles and melta (i cant recall the tau Equiv) as options for sure. Maybe they could have some form of retreat move as well as 'go to ground' in the enemy shoot phase.

The problem is that GW very intentionally designed them without that ability for two editions, and made it quite clear in their fluff that organic weaponry additions like that are not how the Tau operate.

Perkustin wrote:Just noticed something on the first page, you only need two 'weapon destroyed's to wreck a rhino. A vehicle that has no weapons and is immobilized counts as wrecked,

No, it takes three. Two to make it weaponless/immobile one more to Wreck it.

Hmm looked it up, the 5th ed. seems to comfirm this, well that's dumb. The only army that benefits is space marines if their rhinos self repair. This is a perfect example of wording trumping sense. I definately recall wording similar to 'a vehicle without weapons and is immobilised counts as destroyed: wrecked' must have been in a previous ed. or FAQ. I foolishly took it to heart 'cos y'know... it MADE SENSE!

Can you destroy a Pintle mounted weapon? I always thought you couldn't, and for the vehicle damage table the Rhino counted as a weaponless vehicle. Although I could be thinking of 4th ed.

Also, Guard can take advantage of vehicle repairs too, although not as well as a Rhino.

Perkustin wrote: I definately recall wording similar to 'a vehicle without weapons and is immobilised counts as destroyed: wrecked' must have been in a previous ed. or FAQ. I foolishly took it to heart 'cos y'know... it MADE SENSE!

Nope, last edition was the exact same and 3rd edition didn't even carry over between Immobilized and Weapon Destroyed. Perhaps it was for holding objectives or VPs?

The only army that benefits is space marines if their rhinos self repair.

Orks have Grot Riggers. Other armies can repair with help from other units (Techpriests, Mekboyz)

Can you destroy a Pintle mounted weapon? I always thought you couldn't, and for the vehicle damage table the Rhino counted as a weaponless vehicle. Although I could be thinking of 4th ed.

Yes, you can. It had to be a S4 or higher weapon back in previous editions though.